[Comparative analysis of spatial EEG organization on models of non-verbal divergent and convergent thinking]

Features of neurophysiological organization of two main thinking types playing different roles in creative processes, i.e., divergent and convergent were studied with participation of 30 right-handed male subjects at the age from 30 to 50 years. Two tests were presented: (1) creation of many visual images on the basis of two simple geometrical figures (the model of divergent thinking) and (2) classification of a figure element with one of the offered standard samples (convergent thinking). The number of created images or correctly classified elements for five minutes served a criterion of performance productivity. It was found that performance of the divergent test with high productivity (as compared to low productivity) was characterized by a greater increase in non-linear interactions between the cortical potentials, especially in the axis right frontal--left occipital areas. At the same time, under conditions of high productivity, the number of active narrow-frequency spectral-coherent EEG bands increased. The data confirm the notion of neurophysiological organization of creative processes, according to which creative processes require the intensification of retrieval operations (both conscious and unconscious), based on extensive interhemispheric interaction and involvement of a system of EEG coherent structures oscillating with different frequencies.